Faith
by Shasta1
Summary: *Formerly 'The Paths We Walk' Bulma is saved from execution by Vegeta, but what is his reason? Is it simple because he wants her as a slave? Or does it have a much darker reason?
1. The Tradegy

The Paths We Walk By Shasta ************************************************************ Disclaimer: If i owned Dragonball Z, you would be scared. VERY scared.  
  
A/N: Here's my first shot at a Vegeta/Bulma get-together. It's NOT set during those infamous '3 years'. It's my take on what could have happened had Vegeta and Bulma met on Vejitazi. This is an A/U and i hope you like it.. Please go easy on me with reviews cuz this is my first V/B. Also, the only characters i own are Karra (pronounces Car-rah), Atari, Mingu, Minesta and Sharia. (a cookie to whoever can spot the food/name puns!) Okay, enough of my rambling! On with the show! ************************************************************** It was a peaceful day on the planet Vejitazi. The sky was it's usual shade of lavender, dotted with clouds of baby pink. Down in the courtyard of the imperial palace, servents and slaves alike went about their merry ways. Among the many people hurrying about the courtyard, was a slave girl named Bulma. She was well known to the servents of the palace as a kind, gentle young girl.  
  
(A/N: I know Bulma's really OOC, but this IS my first V/B...)  
  
Bulma was also known for her ravishing beauty. Even in the ragged dress she wore, she glowed with beauty. Her long, aquamarine hair hung loose, falling to her collorbone in wavy tendrils. Her eyes were midnight blue and they sparkled like two quatrz stones set into her sharp-featured face.  
  
All her life she had been a slave to the King's family. Her mother, a lowly flower girl, had died giving birth to her, her father, a warrior in the imperial army, was killed in battle many years ago and as a result of being orphanned, she was forced to work as a slave to Princess Sharia.  
  
Bulma carried her mistresse's laundry in her arms as she made her way up the marble steps leading into the palace.  
  
"Good day, Bulma!" said a fellow slave girl, her hair a deep, deep shade of blue, cropped short and spikey, several locks hanging in emerald green eyes.  
  
"Oh! Hello, Minesta! Busy with your dutys?" said Bulma.  
  
Minesta sighed heavily. "Mingu is working me to the bone, the lazy geezer! I've had to wash his laundry, feed his pet tiger, repair his hooverboard and Kami knows what else!"  
  
Bulma chuckled. "Ah, Minesta, don't worry....it could be worse. You could be a slave to the King! How is Karra, anyway?" Bulma's face turned serious.  
  
Minesta shook her head. "Broken pelvis and many other horrific injurys. That king is a hoffific bastard, Bulma.."she whispered low.  
  
"Why does he rape his slaves when he has a wife to provide...um....well, you know...?"said Bulma.  
  
Minesta crossed her arms behind her head and looked up at the cyrstal chandelier on the ceiling. "Beats the heck outta me...maybe Queen Atari is'nt sasifying him....."  
  
Bulma shrugged. "Guess we'll never know...what you up to after you finish your dutys?"  
  
"Right now, all i wanna do is sleep."Minesta said.  
  
The two girls both laughed as they walked down the long hall...  
  
Bulma set Sharia's clothes down on the bed and sighed to herself. All she wanted to do now was to curl up on her animal skins and sleep for a while...  
  
Princess Sharia entered the room gracefully. She was the eldest of the King and Queen's two children at the age of 20. Sharia had a head of extremly spikey black hair fleaked with auburn high- lights, styled to stick out at the back with several bangs hanging in her chocalate brown eyes.  
  
Her long, silver-and-gold trimmed dress swayed as she made her way to the bed. She picked up one of her dresses, inpected it for any damage, shrugged and trew it in a pile onto the floor.  
  
"Slave, you are relieved of duties untill further notice. Now get out of my site before i blast you into the next millenium."she said, her gravelly voice (think Frieza's voice) making Bulma whince slightly.  
  
Bulma nodded and bowed, then left the room and turned down the hall towards the infirmery.  
  
She knocked on the door. A few minutes passed before a large, purple skinned demoness with thin rimmed glasses, answered.  
  
"Ahh, Bulma! What can i do for ya?"said the demoness, opening the door all the way.  
  
Bulma stepped inside. "I'm here to see Karra, if if you don't mind, Diaga."she said.  
  
Diaga waved a hand in front of her. "Not at all, Bulma. She's down in the bed at the end of room. She's awake but weak. I gave her plenty of morphine but i'm afraid she won't be fully healed untill we replelish our stocks of Stenzu Beans." she said.  
  
Bulma thanked her and walked down towards the bed, passing various patients in different states of injury and health.  
  
She came to the bed were her friend Karra lay. Karra was sitting up, whincing in pain, her dark green skin covered in cuts and bruises, her pearly white hair in a mass of tangles and her eyes clenched shut from pain.  
  
"Karra-chan..it's me, Bulma..are you alright?"Bulma said, gently placing a hand on her friends shoulder.  
  
"It...it hurts so much.." Karra cried, tears flowing from her violet eyes.  
  
Bulma suddenly felt a wave of anger surge through the Saiyajin blood in her veins. She did'nt just want to have revenge on the King for harming Karra...no, she wanted to kill him...to see him writh in pain like Karra had done at his hands..to see him suffer...see him die a slow, agonising death....  
  
"Bulma....avenge me..."Karra said, staring up at Bulma, the light in her violet eyes slowly beginning to fade..  
  
"KARRA! No! Don't let go!"Bulma said, noting the look of approching death in her friend's eyes.  
  
"Saranova keoko masenko....gia kemeta...."Karra breathed, before the fire that had once burned so bright in her eyes was intinguished forever.  
  
"KAARRAAAAAAA!!!"screamed Bulma.  
  
Diaga, on hearing Bulma's crys, raced down to the end of the bed. "What happened.....OH DEAR KAMI! Karra..........no..!"Diaga said, covering her mouth with her hand in shock.  
  
Bulma hung her head. "Saranova keoko masenko.....'Avenge my death'......gia kemeta...'Bring peace'.."she said, translating Karra's last words. She hung her head in sorrow and slowly walked to the door.  
  
"Do not worry, Karra....you're death shall be avenged..."she whispered, before she exited the infirmary without a backwards glance. Her mission? To kill the King and avenge her fallen friend........  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
A/N: Well? Did you like it? Did you hate it? Lemme know by clicking that sexiful little button on the bottom lefthand corner of your screens! Next chapter, Bulma meets her match....  
  
~Peace, Love And Everything!~  
  
~*Shasta*~ ************************************************ ~30th October, 2002~ 


	2. A Helping HandReflections

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~*The Paths We Walk~*~

By Shasta

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A/N: Betcha $5 you thought I'd never update this fic as long as I lived, huh? Well, guess what, bub! You're wrong, so pay up! *recieves a butt-loud of $5 bills*

~_____~ '

Oooookaaaaay then……….BTW, I finally figured out how to post HTML, if your wondering why this chapter looks different to the first.

That said, read on to find out what happens to Bulma!

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Disclaimer: I only own bizarre things…..Things so bizarre they'd have Akira Toriyama spinning in his grave….hey, wait a minute….

Just so ya know,

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Italics mean flashbacks or dreams

……. mean thoughts

"……." Mean speaking,

(………) means me butting in

~……….~ telepathic links.

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The wind blew silently through the woman's long blue hair. Now or never, she thought to herself as she unhooked the dagger from her belt.

Creeping swiftly through the shadows, she made her way to the King's chambers, quiet as not to wake him.

She must fufill her mission….she must avenge Karra…

She swiftly made her way into the room.

Night air ruffled the white muslin curtains of the open windows, making them dance like some kind of strange ghosts..

Bulma's eyes glinted in the twilight. She gripped the dagger with a trembling hand as she approched the royal bed where the king slept peacefully.

"Die, you bastard!" Bulma shrieked, raising the dagger high above her head. She slammed it down into his chest…

No sooner had she done this when she felt a strong force flip her on her back, the dagger knocked from her hand, unable to move.

It took Bulma a few seconds to regester that the King was ontop of her, growling seductivly.

"My, my! Ar'nt we fiesty?"he sneered, a dirty smirk crossing his chiseled face.

Bulma tried to scream, but the King silenced her by running the blade of the dagger along ger cheek, drawing crimson blood.

"You bastard!! You caused the death of Karra!"she sobbed, tears mingling with blood as she tried to free herself from the King's grip.

"Oh..the slave..i see..you wish to avenge her….but I'm afraid I'm going to have to raincheck……"said the King, running a finger along Bulma's wound.

She whinced as his rough finger trailed the opened cut, making it sting in protest.

Somehow, she managed to get a leg free and wasted no time in kneeing the King in the place 'were angels fear to thread'. 

(*All the men in the audience instinctly cross their legs*)

The King went bug eyed and howled in agony.

Bulma used the King's weakness to escape.

She made a mad dash to the door, flung it open and ran as fast as her legs would carry her.

"GUARDS!!! STOP HER!!!"the King screeched after Bulma…

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Shit shit shit! My plan failed… Bulma thought angerly to herself, as she curled up on her bed inside the dungeon. She was to be executed at dawn, which was but a few hours away. She sighed heavily as she looked out at the cresent moon.

I'm such a fool..she thought bitterly…

Bulma was suddenly dragged from her thoughts by the sound of footsteps.

"Where is the condemed?"came a gravelly voice from nearby.

"Through here, your Highness.."the dungeon master's voice came. The footsteps became louder. Bulma turned to see the door of the cell open. In stepped a tall, elegant man of at least 19 or so. He was dressed in a black spandex body suit under white-and-gold trimmed Saiyajin armour and his flame-shaped spikey black hair stuck up as if it defied gravity. His navy blue eyes searched the cell untill they rested on Bulma.

Prince Vegeta? Bulma thought, looking confused.

"You say she tried to assasinate my father?"the teenage prince said, sounding amused.

"Yes, Sire….she is to be executed at dawn.."said the dungeon master.

Vegeta waved a hand in front of him absently."I will hear of no such thing. She is quite clever to formulate a plan like that….yes, she will make a most excellent slave."he said.

"Sire, are you quite sure..?" said the dungeon master.

"Do not question me, Keberos. I've made up my mind."said Vegeta. He shot a glance at Bulma, who simpled blinked in confusion.

"What is your name, slave?"

"B..Bulma…."Bulma stuttered.

Vegeta scoffed to himself. "Well…Bulma…you got off easy. You will not be executed. You will serve as a slave to me…from what I've been told, you are a suitable candidate."

Bulma narrowed her eyes. "This a'int some joke, is it?"

Vegeta scoffed again. "Fiesty, are'nt you…..no, I am being 100 percent serious, Miss. Come. I will show you to your quarters."

Bulma gave Vegeta a reproachful look.

Why is he doing this? she wondered. She shrugged, thinking that anything's better than having your head cut off, and walked out of the cell.

Vegeta nodded to Keberos. "Dismissed." He said. Keberos bowed and backed away.

"Come."said Vegeta.

Bulma nodded and followed the prince up the long, winding staircase leading out of the dungeon.

"Why are you doing this?"Bulma asked Vegeta, when they had reached the second floor of the palace.

"Anyone who attempts to murder my good-for-nothing father is indeed a friend of mine."Vegeta said, chuckling softly.

Bulma's brow furrowed."Why would you wish your father dead? Don't you love him?"she asked.

Vegeta shook his head."No….he is nothing to me…he is a heartless bastard. I have always hated him….ever since I was a young boy….the way he abuses his slaves….how he disrespects my dear mother…I would rather die than show compassion for that cold-hearted son of a bitch."he said, his hands clenching into fists by his sides as he spoke.

"Does your father know of this?"Bulma said.

"I guess….he does'nt give a damn about me…always fussing over my sister Sharia…because I'm the youngest, I'm worst off….sure, I'm the Crowned Prince, but in terms of affection, I get nothing….the only person who truly shows compassion for me is my mother…"Vegeta sighed deeply.

"Bummer…being the prince, I thought…"Bulma started.

A small smile graced Vegeta's tanned face."..I was a brat, spoilt for affection?"

Bulma giggled sheepishly and rubbed the back of her head. "Er…I guess.."

Vegeta chuckled. Wow….she has such a sweet laugh…..whoa, where'd that come from?? he thought.

Vegeta shrugged it off and lead Bulma down the corridor. "You will be staying with me."he said, as they came to a stop in front of a large, oak door.

Vegeta turned the handle and politely let Bulma pass him as she walked inside.

Bulma looked around the room. For the son of the king of Vejitazi, it was not what she expected. 

A four poster bed, draped in baby blue silk with silver trim, lay in the centre of the room. The walls were white plaster and covered in abstract Saiyajin hieroglifics. A picture of Vegeta and his mother, in a silver frame, was placed attop his bedside locker, next to a small alarm clock and a large lava lamp.

The dark purple curtains swayed softly in the light breeze that blowed in from the open balcony, the moon casting a soft, silvery glow along the floor, which was strewn with clothes, CDs, a few pizza boxes (A/N: Men..*rolls eyes*) and wires connected to Vegeta's game consoles and stereo system.

"You'll sleep in here."Vegeta said, pointing to a large, blue door to the left of a huge oak wardrobe. On opening it, Bulma found that it lead to a spare bedroom, painted in lavender, with a small bed and wardrobe as the basic furnature.

"Thank you, Sire."Bulma said, smiling.

"Just call me Vegeta…"said Vegeta. Bulma nodded. "Okay then…………goodnight, Vegeta."she said.

"Goodnight, Bulma…if you need nightclothes, just check the wardrobe…I think one of the servent girls filled it with clothes…"said Vegeta.

"Okay, thanks. See ya in the mornin'."Said Bulma. She walked into the bedroom and began to close the door behind her. She took one last look at the Saiyajin Prince and sighed inwardly to herself.

Damn, he's cute!……..what the hell?! Where'd that come from?!she thought….

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A/N: Wheee! Things are starting to heat up between Bulma an' Veggie-chan! Sooooo…..what did y'all think? Review an' let me know, for cryin' out loud!

Next chapter: A CERTAIN inter-galatic transvestite comes to wreak havoc on Vejitazi…

Later days! *prances off*

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: ¨)   
¸.·´¸.·´¨) ¸.·*¨)   
(¸.·´ (¸.·´ ¸.·´   
¸.·´¸.·*'·-» *~Shasta~*

Queen Of The Almighty Bung-Hole

Shasta's Quote Of The Day: "Are we real? Do we even EXIST…? Or are we just puppets in your twisted games?"

Shasta's Final Thought: If Goku wished for EVERYONE ever killed by Frieza to be wished back with the Dragonballs, does'nt that mean that the entire Saiyajin race is wished back too, seeing as how Frieza killed them all? How the mind boggles…..

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